Conkers

I was chatting with a UK teacher friend about going back to school this autumn, and it suddenly brought back a memory of my own secondary school in the UK. It was a school founded in the 1600's. It had a certain Hogwarts feel to it now I look back to my own school years. (But we didn't study anything quite as interesting as magic...)

I actually quite looked forward to the start of Autumn term - the 'new year' back after a long summer break of two or more months. In some ways autumn in temperate countries can bring a melancholy of 'things coming to an end' - the change of the light, the colour of the leaves on trees, the shorter, and colder days - all signals that summer has finished. But with a school year starting, it was also the signal of new things. We might have something cool like a new stationery set to use, and we would of course be in a new classroom, sometimes with a few new schoolmates too.

All this randomly reminded me of the big conker tree outside the building we were housed in when I was 11-12 years old. I don't know if kids do this in other countries, but conkers - the fruits (nuts?) of the Horse Chestnut tree - used to be collected and sometimes used in games by UK children.

Like I said, you find conkers on a Horse Chestnut tree. But in fact they are poisonous to eat (I think for humans and other animals including, ironically, horses). Despite the name, the tree is not a sibling of the 'Chestnut' tree, which produces slightly similar looking fruits ..which are edible and quite nice roasted on a bonfire or used in cakes!

It was a big deal to find the biggest conkers, and one game British children played involved drilling a hole through the nut, threading a string through it, then bashing it against a rival conker. The aim is to crack your opponent's conker, then you win! A conker that has defeated one rival nut is called a 'one-r', two nuts a 'two-er' etc. I am not sure if 'Conkers' is still played much by UK kids, it is an old fashioned game, and fairly rare during my early years in a rural UK town. But there is a World Conkers Championship (which adults also enter) held annually in England today! I think this is a modern festival.

And remember!

The conker or Horse Chestnut - do not eat this!

 

The slightly fuzzier Chestnut - quite tasty when cooked!

 

Further reading: http://www.worldconkerchampionships.com/ ;)

 

Credits for conker game photos: Bookdrum.com; Woodlands Jnr School in Kent.